Bungie's Sci-Fi Shooter 'Destiny' Wins Gamescom

The German gaming trade show breaks attendance records with more than 340,000 visitors.

COLOGNE, Germany – The sci-fi shooter Destiny, from Halo developers Bungie, has won the top prize at this year's Gamescom, the world's largest gaming industry trade show, which wrapped in Cologne this weekend.

The plot of Destiny, set 700 years in the future, has players fighting to protect the last remaining human city on Earth from an alien invasion.

The post-apocalyptic action game, which publisher Activision Blizzard will release next year, was one of the hottest titles at Gamescom, even though all Bungie could offer fans was a behind-the-scenes video and several new screenshots of the game. Given that Halo has become one of the most successful gaming franchises of all time, the fevered anticipation is perhaps understandable.

In addition to taking the best of Gamescom, honor, Destiny also won for best Playstation game, best action game and best online multiplayer game.

Gamescom's other big winner this year was Titanfall, another sci-fi influenced action shooter. The title from Respawn Entertainment, which Electronic Arts will release next Spring, won prizes for best Xbox console game and best next generation console game. Another multiple winner was fantasy title The Elder Scrolls Online from ZeniMax Germany, which won best role playing game and the prize for best social/casual/online game.

Best console game for the Nintendo WII went to Nintendo Europe's Mario Kart 8, which also won best family game. Another Nintendo title, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, won best mobile game. War strategy title Battlefield 4 from Electronic Arts won best PC game, FIFA 14, the latest in Electronic Arts' hugely popular soccer game franchise, took best sports game. Microsoft's Forza Motorsport 5 won best racing game and WarThunder from Russia's Gaijin Entertainment won best simulation game.

Gamescom itself broke all previous records, with attendance figures jumping 23 percent to 340,000 visitors and 6,000 journalists from 61 countries making the trip to Cologne to cover the event. Public tickets to attend Gamescom were sold out before the fair kicked off last week.

The biggest story of the event was the head-to-head battle between Sony's PlayStation4 console and Microsoft's upcoming Xbox One.

If press reaction is any guide, Sony appears to have won this battle of the consoles, though Microsoft's new gaming tech also won rave reviews. The Gamescom jury made the popular choice, voting the PlayStation 4 the best hardware on display this year.